


I Never Wanted to Die

by faierieprince



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, And gore, Humanstuck, Meenah/Aranea - Freeform, Multi, Roxy Lalonde/ Dirk Strider - Freeform, Sadstuck, So if you're squeamish don't read this, Yeah it's a thing that I'm doing okay, Zombiestuck, lots of death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-10 05:30:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faierieprince/pseuds/faierieprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They never expected anything like this to happen. But it did, nevertheless. The dead were rising, and nobody knew how to deal with it.<br/>But the real question is-<br/>How do people deal with the death and the pain?<br/>They never wanted to die, it just... Happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It had been two years since it all started. since the first one of _them_ had crawled through someone's front yard and created more. Nobody knew what they were, what caused them to become what they had. People learned, though. They were monsters. Monsters who lost all humanity. Monsters who proceeded to kill- and eat- their own families.

Zombies. That's what they were. Everyone was terrified, no one actually thought anything like that could ever happen. That the dead could rise again, and not just that. That the newly risen dead would eat anything that moved and breathed. 

At first, people were dying left and right. It took almost a month for people to figure out how to kill them to the point where they wouldn't rise again. Not much later, every weapon supply store to be raided and emptied of everything. Guns, knives, ammunition, protection…. If you could think of it, it was gone.

As all supplies were raided, as all doors became locked, the gravity of the situation began to settle in people's minds. Some people only grew harder, tougher, while others quickly lost what shreds of sanity they still clung to. Everyone had lost friends, family, loved ones, and neighbors. Some lost everything, some lost family, and far too many lost their lives.

Dirk and his brother had managed to stick together, saving a great many lives before leaving them to fend for themselves once again. Roxy lost her mother on a raid, and barely escaped with her life. Jake lost his grandmother, as well as his left leg. They all lost Jane early on- and none of them could stand to end her. For all they knew, she was still roaming around with pieces of flesh falling off of her.

The four who survived managed to group up, to survive together. They found an empty warehouse- Roxy's doing, really- and cleared it of the dead. They settled in, using the Strider's locks on all the doors, and Jake's trapping ability to set traps for zombies and possible wildlife.

It was just their small group, for a while. They would eat what they could find, rationing it out. Roxy had run out of alcohol within a week of their stay in the warehouse, and the withdrawals were hitting her hard. Back when she first tried to become sober, Jane had been there to help her. But not anymore, which just made it worse. Dave had nearly killed her in those next few weeks (she was "bitchin' abut withdrawals and he could barely stand it"), but Dirk stayed his hand.

"Bro, she's practically my best friend. If she has to die, it won't be because of you. Besides, I won't let her die. I won't." Dirk had pulled his brother off to the side after a particularly loud (and nearly violent) outburst. Dave reluctantly nodded and worked to compose himself around her.

Eventually, Roxy got over the lack of alcohol. Things were back to normal, well, as normal as things got anymore. Dirk had taken the leadership role, even with his brother there. Jake was silent for the first several weeks. The whole situation had severely damaged his lust for adventure and brought him back to what can happen in reality. The rest of the group guessed that Jane's death also had something to do with it, but he didn't mention it and neither did they.

Jake started to warm up again, though. It happened while he was checking a small buck he had caught for infection.

"Dirk, do you think this splotch is a bite or just a spot in the fur?" They all stopped for a moment at the almost forgotten voice, and Dave briefly thought it was someone breaking into the warehouse. Dirk popped out of the shocked stupor first. He walked over and inspected the spot before nodding.

"Uh, yeah. Okay. I think it's probably alright, as long as we skin it right. I think it's probably just some dried blood that fell on him. At least, we can hope that's all it is," Dirk muttered, shaking his head. They were almost out of food, and they were all hungry for something fresher than beef jerky and trail mix. Fresh meat, tainted or not, sounded appealing to all of them.

So Jake nodded, and set to work skinning it. The could inspect it deeper when just the flesh was bared- and they could hope it was edible. Dirk sat nearby, in case Jake needed him for anything. Roxy sat herself in the corner, running through the radio stations to see if she could pick up anything but static. They had once before picked up someone's voice, panicked, asking for help. But the transmission tuned out before they could catch a place. It had become Roxy's pastime, trying to find those she could help.

But she hadn't found anyone for at least a week. The radio was just static, and it made them all wonder if anyone was still out there.

The buck turned out to be clean, and the group had their first real meal in weeks. If Dirk hadn't stopped them, they would have eaten all of it that night. Dirk portioned off half of it to keep for later, but it would spoil quickly without ice to keep it cold. Still, at least they'd be able to eat it the next day and enjoy it a little more.


	2. Chapter 2

Nights were always uneasy. They all felt uncomfortable about whether or not anything could get in while they were asleep- Dirk and Jake had just barely gotten remotely comfortable with not keeping a watch. But then came the question of sleeping arrangements. None of them were comfortable sleeping very far from each other. Dirk wouldn't let his brother anywhere near Roxy, so she snuggled in with Dirk, quite happy with the arrangement. He was fine with it- so long as she didn't read into it as anything more than friendly protection. Jake would sleep across from them and Dave a few feet away.

No one slept without a weapon close at hand. Dirk and Dave kept their swords, Jake kept his guns under his pillow, and Roxy kept a knife strapped to her thigh. They would jerk awake at the slightest sound- one could never be too careful with the dead roaming around outside. Originally, they had to deal with looters, too, but it seemed like they were the only ones left now.

But the sounds weren't just what made them sleep uneasy. They were all plagued by nightmares. Jake never talked about his, but you could tell by the way he acted that they were bad. Dave's were generally about all the people they had left behind to fend for themselves. Sure, they had protected them from the zombies for a little bit, but it wasn't like they stayed with them to protect them. He tried to remind himself that out here, you were on your own, but the memories still lingered with startling detail.

Dirk rarely managed to sleep, but when he did he dreamed about how it all started. About how suddenly people were dying all the time but they never really _died _. About losing everyone he knew, and everything he had. About what it would be like to lose his brother, Jake, or Roxy. Jane had been bad enough, he didn't know if he could make it through anyone else's death.__

Roxy dreamt of her mother. About how she cried out for Roxy to just get herself to safety. About how Roxy shouldn't worry about her, she would be fine. About her screams as the zombies began to bite into her, to tear her skin and flesh right off of her body. About the sickening crunch of bone and the look in her mother's eyes as she mouthed a last "run" before she lost consciousness. About how no matter how hard she ran the dead were always just behind her.

The next morning was eerily quiet. The air outside was still- no leaves rustling, groans of the dead, animals…. nothing. No one in the group wanted to break the silence, either. It made Roxy feel uneasy- something was off, wrong. It was never this quiet even without any other living people around. The silence was unnatural, and there was no way all the dead had magically disappeared. 

Something had to be wrong, there was no explanation at hand. The dead would never have just dropped dead out of nowhere, and even then they surely would have noticed _something_. It was all very strange, and Roxy didn't like it. And if something was wrong, she wasn't the kind of person to wait for someone else to figure it out.

After they polished off the last of the meat, Roxy stood up and wandered slowly over to her things. It wasn't like she had much- a sleeping bag, a pillow, a bag with some mementos of her mother and her laptop just in case they found power, matches and a couple of bags of trail mix and beef jerky. And her knives and rifle, of course. She had three knives, including the one on her thigh, and she took them quite seriously. Surprisingly so, for an ex-alcoholic teenager.

"I'm going to go look around," she said abruptly, grabbing her rifle. Dave jumped at the sudden sound, and everyone turned to look at her.

"No, you're not," Dirk replied, looking at her. "Just because everything's quiet is no reason to go out there. Hell, they could have gotten smarter or something. It could be some kinda trap, Rox. No." But Roxy was already up at one of the doors, pulling the key off the boxes next to it. She unlocked the padlock and grabbed the chain to lock it from the outside. 

In an instant, Dirk was by her side. "I just don't want you to get hurt, Rox," he said softly, looking at her. 

"I promise I'll be careful, okay? This silence is just getting to me… I just wanna see what's going on out there." Roxy shrugged and gave him a small smile. "I'll be fine, Dirky. I'll be back in a minute." And with that, she shrugged out of his grip and opened the door, stepping out and shutting it behind her. Dirk sighed, but there wasn't much he could do.

Roxy slid the chain through the door handles and snapped on the lock. She took a deep breath, and turned to look around. There wasn't much left after the zombies. The Strider's old truck sat behind a fence, coated in guts and blood. Her own junky car sat behind it, the white covered in mud and dried blood. Deciding there was no use in wasting gas, she set off on foot down to the road.

She looked both ways for any sign of life. Nothing but an abandoned semi-truck about half a mile to the left- not a bad place to start, she supposed. It hadn't been there the last time she went out, so maybe it held some clue of what had happened to cause this unbearable silence.

As Roxy neared it she finally began to hear something other than her own breathing, and she unsheathed her knife. It was a low groan coming from below the truck. Roxy slowly got close enough to look under the truck, and she wasn't surprised to find a zombie stuck under one of the wheels. 

She quickly put an end to its flesh-craving misery, and stabbed it through the eye with a sickening schliiick. The worst part about it for her was how easily the blade could move through their flesh and bone. It was like the dead were made of gelatin or something. Their bodies were so decomposed that it took very little effort for Roxy to cut them open. 

The blonde sighed, straightening up after wiping the blade on the grass near the side of the road. She decided to inspect the rest of the truck, warily glancing in the windows and finding nothing. Still, there could be supplies in the back, so with her rifle out, she jimmied the doors open.

She did not find what she expected. In fact, it was what she had least expected.

Survivors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is going better than expected! This is really fun to write, and I hope you all enjoy it. It's been a nice little project for me to destress with, and I really like writing zombies. Like... Just yes.  
> So yeah.  
> Okay.  
> This is fun.  
> Andiloveyouallforreadingit.  
> <3


	3. Chapter 3

The second Roxy had opened the door, there were at least 3 weapons immediately pointed at her. She threw her hands up, letting out a breath and looking over the other people who were just as battered as she was. She scanned the faces off the five she had found, but didn't recognize any of them.

The one in the torn blue tank top and cutoffs stood up first. "Who are you and how did you find us?"

"Uhm, my name's Roxy. I… I just wanted to go out and investigate the silence and stumbled upon this truck, and along with it you guys." She shrugged, lowering her arms after a moment. Then she had a thought, and bit her lip looking at the girl who had spoken to her. "The… The one under the truck wasn't one of yours, was it?"

At a glance from the blue one, the rest lowered their weapons and she invited Roxy inside. "No, not one of ours. Just someone who got caught. My name's Aranea, and this is Meenah, Rufioh, Kurloz, and Damara." She gestured at each of them in turn. "You wouldn't happen to have some place safe around here, would you?" Aranea asked hopefully.

"Hey, you can't just asked someone that after they just busted into your survival site. She could be hostile or bit, how would we know? How do we know if we can trust her? How do we know she didn't just lead some big ass group of the undead right to us?" Meenah asked, standing up, glock still in hand.

"It's the only chance we've got, Meenah," Aranea said softly, looking back at Roxy.

Roxy nodded. "My group's up in a warehouse not far from here, but we don't exactly have much to us. I'm not sure we have enough to feed all of you…"

Aranea smiled softly. "We have plenty here, and if we can group up we'd be glad to share." Meenah was about to protest, until Aranea silenced her with a wave of her hand. "Please, just let us come with you."

Roxy bit her lip, mind whirring. Meenah had a point that they didn't know each other and trust needed to be earned. But she couldn't just leave them stuck out here, could she? If she could open the doors that easily a zombie might be able to find its way in, and what if it was a big group then? Their deaths would have been Roxy's fault. She sighed.

"I… I need to go talk to the rest of my group. It's not my decision to bring back a group of strangers," she told Aranea with a frown. "But I promise I'll do my best."

Aranea nodded in understanding. "I understand. I hope the rest of your party will be as kind as you." And with that, Roxy left the truck, hoping to return.

~~~~~~  
Roxy jogged back to the warehouse without any trouble, and unlocked the door. She found Dirk pacing nervously inside, stopping as soon as he noticed her.

"God, Dirky, I said I'd be fine, didn't I?" Roxy as teasingly with a small smile. It was kind of flattering that he was worried, but at the same time she could take care of herself. She had told him so, and knew he believed her, but it still irked her slightly.

Dirk's mouth set into a hard line, but she could see the relief as his face relaxed. "I was just worried about you. We don't know what's going on out there."

"Well, I can tell you that the creepy dead people are not really there, like I killed one but whatever, and I can tell you that I found the second biggest surprise of my life." At this, Dirk raised an eyebrow. "The biggest being this whole zombie situation but that doesn't matter here," Roxy continued. "I found a small group of other survivors.

Now both Jake and Dave were listening attentively to her, and everyone's eyes rested on her, in shock. Survivors? That didn't seem possible the way things had been going lately. It had seemed that they were the only people left, and if there were others, they couldn't be trusted.

Dirk saw the question in Roxy's eyes before she could even voice her question. "No. Absolutely not." Dave's eyes shifted to his brother, confused.

Roxy's eyes went wide. "But Dirk! We have to- they'll die without us. They're living in the back of an old semi. With how easily I was able to break in there, dead people or looters could do just the same. They have extra supplies, and Aranea said they'd be willing to share just so long as we could group up for protection. They have some pretty B.A. people with them, too, if you know what I mean."

Dirk sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "Rox… No. No way. We can't…" The tears in Roxy's eyes stopped him, and he swallowed. So it was either a group of savable people on her conscience and a very upset Roxy, or a new group of unknown people. "Shit, Roxy… You know what could happen…."

He sighed again. "Just take me to them."

Dirk was only slightly surprised to find the sudden arms around his waist and the flood of thank yous out of Roxy's mouth. He murmured a response, and they left, going to survey this group of survivors. He didn't like the sound of it, but he would do anything for Roxy.

~~~~~~

The second the truck doors opened again, Meenah was on her feet, machete in hand. She didn't trust that woman, nor did she plan to in the near future. After the brightness of the sunlight subsided, her armed dropped in shock.

" _Dirk?!"_  she said in disbelief, eyes widening.

" _Meenah!"_  Dirk exclaimed in similar disbelief. No way. There was no possible way. Within seconds the woman Roxy had seen as cold and ruthless was hugging him tight. He grinned, gripping her back before letting go.

"Why does it not surprise me that you made it through, of all people?" he muttered, smiling.

"Same goes for you, hot stuff." Meenah grinned that shark-toothed grin, punching his arm. Dirk shook his head with a smirk, looking her over.

She was certainly more beat up and rough than the last time he's seen her. Her hair was in two braids down her back, and her whole body was coated in a layer of dirt and blood. She wore a bright pink sports bra underneath a torn and baggy t-shirt, a pair of black cargo pants, and her standard combat boots.

Roxy cleared her throat after a moment of what she deemed to be awkward silence. "So, uh, I guess you two know each other?" It couldn't be an ex-girlfriend… Could it? She didn't want that, no sir-ee. Dirk was hers. Well, in her mind, but that didn't exactly matter at this point.

Dirk and Meenah both turned away from each other, brought back to the group. "Yeah, but you can calm your tits, girly. We were just roommates for a while is all," Meenah said with an eye roll she flopped down onto the back of the truck, swinging her feet over the edge.

"She dated my roommate in college," Dirk explained. "In the end, she kicked _him_ out because I was just that great of a roommate, I guess."

"Eh eh eh, wrong there Mr. Anime. I kicked him out because he was an ass and you had the video games."

Dirk smiled slightly and rolled his eyes. Roxy wasn't sure if she had seen him smile so much in a long, long time. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. And I guess it's cool if you guys come hideout with us, it's not so safe out here. This puppy got any gas left?"

Aranea shook her head. "Sadly, not. We'll have to lug what supplies we have with us back." Dirk nodded and helped to distribute the goods they had, taking a good bulk of the load himself. Within no time, they were back at the warehouse, and it seemed as if things might be perking up…


	4. Chapter 4

Once introductions were taken care of, the group began to set up the warehouse to accommodate the larger group. Sleeping arrangements were made, food was stockpiled and taken inventory of. By nightfall, everyone was pretty well settled. Roxy could see the relief in their faces; knowing that they could be warm and safe tonight was what seemed to be a miracle.

Roxy sat down on her sleeping bag, holding a pillow and watching the group. Dirk and Meenah were talking animatedly, no doubt catching up. Jake and Aranea certainly seemed to be hitting it off- Roxy was just happy to see some of his old enthusiasm back. Dave was in the corner trying to be antisocial, but Rufioh kept trying to start up a conversation and seemed to be finding some common ground to talk about. Damara was sitting by the fire, attempting to light something.

Only Roxy and Kurloz remained, and he certainly didn't seemed talkative. In fact, quite the opposite. Based on the vibes she gathered from everyone else, he seemed to be mute. Which Roxy guessed had to be tough in times like these- he couldn't scream, he couldn't offer assistance as easily…. It couldn't be fun.

Roxy sighed, lying down and snuggling into her sleeping bag. Hopefully everyone else would get the memo and go to sleep.

Aranea and Meenah were the first to curl up and go to sleep. While Roxy was giving one last look over the group, she noticed the two of them snuggle into the same bag together, arms wrapped protectively around each other. She smiled slightly- at least they each would always have someone around here to live for. Dirk and the others soon got the right idea and went to find their own sleeping areas, Dirk snuggling in next to Roxy.

As soon as he put an arm around her, Roxy sighed contentedly, and was able to quickly drift off into a light sleep.

~~~~~~

Everyone was screaming all of a sudden, just down the street. Roxy shrugged, figuring a group of guys were just shooting girls with water guns- after all, it was summer. But now that she thought about it, they sounded more like screams of terror than anything. She paused in applying her lipstick, going to look out the window.

What she saw wasn't like anything she'd seen before. There was a small mob of people bent over a person, and from her vantage point she didn't exactly have a clear view, but it certainly looked like they were eating whoever it was. Everyone was running away from the seen, looks of utter terror on their faces. Some guy walked out of the house next door- Mr. Crocker- with a shotgun. He cocked and shot, blasting one of the figures through the head. Roxy's hand flew to her mouth. What the hell?

He opened fire on another couple before he ran out of shells and the remaining group came limping towards him at surprising speeds. As they got closer Roxy noticed that their flesh seemed to be rotting, falling right off their bodies. One of them had half a jaw and most of the flesh around its right eye had fallen off and she could see straight to the bone. Another had lost its left arm, and a third was covered in blood and had a chunk torn out of its right shoulder. The last seemed the closest to human, but even she- if you could assign these things a gender-was missing a chunk of hair and was coated in blood and guts.

Someone opened fire on them from down the street before they reached Mr. Crocker, but one still managed to latch onto his arm and he screamed trying to shake it off. He bashed it in the head and it crumpled to the ground, but not without a chunk of his arm. He gripped his arm and ran into the house as the shooter down the street got the last of them.

Roxy ran down stairs to try and help Mr. Crocker, but before she could Jane was in her house and her mom was locking all the doors.

Jane was crying and started sobbing into Roxy's shoulder as soon as she saw her. "They got him Ro-Lal. He's gone," she cried, grasping her friend tightly. "What are we going to do?"

Roxy was confused. "What do you mean he's gone, Janey? What's going on?"

"They're dead, Roxy. Undead, to be more specific," her mother informed her. "As you would call them, zombies. At least, that's what I've gathered from the little display outside and from the news." With a glance at her daughter and her companion, she began to raid the fridge and shoving things into a duffel bag. "We need to get out of here, if we can. Now. Go pack what you can. Jane, dear, we'll go try and get to your house after we get out things. If not, we'll find something for you."

Crying Jane nodded, and went upstairs with Roxy. This was all so confusing to the both of them, how could this actually happen? Roxy began shoving clothes into her travel bag, and grabbed her gun from under her bed, strapping it to her back. She shoved her phone into her pocket, and went into her mother's room to grab her clothes as well. She opened the safe in the closet and pulled out her mother's handgun and wealth of knives.

Throwing the bag down at the bottom of the stairs, she ran into the garage and grabbed a tent and the two sleeping bags they owned, hoping they would be able to carry them. She went bag inside and set them down, hands on her hips. What were you even supposed to pack for this sort of thing?

She walked into the kitchen to find her mother grabbing the car keys and a butcher knife, staring out the window nervously. Mr. Crocker was beating on the window, except he didn't exactly look like the Mr. Crocker she knew and recognized. His mouth hung open and he was groaning. His eyes looked glazed over, and his arm was bleeding profusely but he didn't seem to notice. His hat was gone and his normally impeccable hair was a mess.

Jane ran into the kitchen just after Roxy, and screamed as soon as she saw her father. This only seemed to agitate him more, and he began to pound on the window with renewed enthusiasm.

"Roxy, will please shut her up?" Her mother asked through ground teeth. "And get her into the garage. Put the things in the car, back seat, not the trunk. _Now._ " Roxy nodded and put a hand over Jane's mouth pulling her away. She was crying again, and Roxy's eyes were wide with terror. She was breathing heavily, hyperventilating.

They grabbed the bags and threw them in the backseat. Roxy told Jane to stay there and got her buckled up in the back seat. She ran back inside to grab the food, and stopped for a moment, seeing her mom trying to avoid Mr. Crocker's bite and trying to stab him through the head. She succeeded and Roxy snapped out of it, grabbing the food and running to the car. Her mother followed, grabbing a spare gas can and throwing it in the trunk before opening the garage and backing out as quickly as she could.

Roxy started sobbing now, holding her head in her hands and shaking. What was going on, the zombie apocalypse? Was that even possible? What about her other friends, Dirk and Jake? They had moved away for more specialized colleges than the universities here in California, maybe they were still okay. After all, this could be just an invasion of the dead here, right? It could end quickly?

But somehow Roxy didn't believe that. She looked up and saw a mob crawling along towards the traffic jam at the entrance to the freeway, probably attracted to the sound of horns honking and yelling people trying to get out of the city. Roxy screamed as they turned towards their car-

… And was suddenly woken up by Dirk. Everyone in the group at the warehouse was awake and staring at her worriedly. Roxy scream died in her throat and she started sobbing, turning into Dirk's chest and gripping him tightly.

"Shhhh, Rox, it was just a dream," he murmured softly, gesturing for the rest of the group to lay down and go back to sleep. "Just a dream, it'll be okay." He rubbing her head and back in soft, calming motions until she calmed down enough to talk. "What happened?"

"It.. It was back when it all started…. Dirk, I saw Mr. Crocker die. I felt that fear again, I saw the group crawling towards the cars…. I didn't know what was going on, oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." She was muttering hysterically. Sure, she usually had nightmares, but that one hadn't come up for a while.

"Shh, Roxy, it'll be okay. I promise. I'm here, I'll always protect you. Go back to sleep, it'll be okay." She did as he told, curling up into his chest this time, but wasn't able to sleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the brief hiatus! I was at con and then had finals, so I ran out of time. But I'm back now! I'll keep updating whenever possible. Enjoy~!


	5. Chapter 5

When everyone was up the next morning, they had a small breakfast of cereal that Aranea's group had. Dave scarfed his down- after just have old trial mix and beef jerky, stale Lucky Charms were a fucking god send. Everyone gave Roxy slightly worried looks, but they all understood what she had dreamed all too well.

They ate their breakfast in silence, and once there was enough light, Jake put out the fire. The smoke was thickening towards the ceiling, and they knew that at some point, they would have to air out the warehouse if they were to stay there. They were up fairly high on a hill, and the dead had been thin up here, so the group posted sentries at each open door to try and bring some fresh air into the complex.

Well, as fresh as things smelled with the dead roaming around aimlessly. Though the smoke cleared itself out, it brought in a new smell of death. Of blood and rotting corpses, that sickly sweet stench of rotten flesh. Since the infection had spread, even the air wasn't fresh anymore.

A decision was made to close the doors before someone got sick. It was odd- that smell hadn't drifted this far up before, and it certainly was potent. In fact, no one really thought that smell was recognizable very far away from a pretty large group of zombies… But they all shrugged it off. None of them had really been outside further down into the infected areas for a while, maybe there had been a wind that blew it up towards them.

It was getting late in the afternoon when the group closed off again, and there were more mouths to feed in the larger group. A poll was taken for who wanted to go hunting for something to eat, and virtually everyone volunteered. Aranea offered to stay back to watch the warehouse, and Kurloz had to by default (he wouldn't be able to cry out for help in the event of an attack, or quickly bring the group to a food source- he was better off protecting their safe-zone and what little supplies they had).

"Alright, Meenah, Dave, Roxy, and I will try to head into town and round up what supplies could still be there," Dirk said, splitting them into two groups. "We'll take the truck. Jake, Rufioh, and Damara will go through the surrounding area- forests and hills and what not- to see if you can't find any animals or fruit or whatever. Sound like a plan?" Everyone agreed and got their weapons together.

Meenah spent a little too long with a lingering goodbye no one could hear to Aranea, until Aranea finally hugged her and practically shoved her out the door. Once they heard the truck start, Aranea and Kurloz locked the door again.

The pair settled in, Aranea only feeling slightly awkward at the silence, and opening up the bloodied book she was able to bring with her- the one she had read a million times already. It was a big thing called _Homestuck_ , and Aranea simply loved it. It had such a complex story, and the apocalypse scenario held within its pages sort of reminded her of what they were going through. After all, everyone had lost the majority of their family and friends, and they originally had enough people for a fairly even session.

She sighed, flipping to a page at random and beginning from there. But she wasn't really paying attention- something just felt off. Maybe it was the unnatural silence Roxy had mentioned when she found them holed up in the semi, or maybe it was worry for all her friends who had just left. Maybe it was that she was reminiscing of her family- her mother and her sister, Vriska. She had seen her mother go, but she had no idea about her sister… But chances were, even with her spirit, Vriska was gone.

Aranea looked up to glance at Kurloz, who was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees and looking down at nothing in particular. She wondered what he was thinking about- but then again, they all wondered that. Without the ability to speak and with the amount of paper and writing utensils being what it was, they didn't get to hear much of his opinion besides a simple nod or head shake. Aranea knew limited sign language, but she couldn't hold a conversation with him for very long.

She stood up and brushed herself off, putting her book down by her things and walking over to him. He didn't even notice until she tapped his shoulder, at which he jumped and looked at her suddenly. _Are you okay?_ she signed, hoping it was correct. He simply nodded in return, before going back to whatever it was he was doing.

Aranea shrugged with a slight frown, going to the supply stack and grabbing a bottle of water and taking a sip. She sat down by the door everyone had left through, thinking. Hopefully they were all alright. Hopefully Meenah was alright. She was sure she was, but at the same time, she was worried. It was dangerous out there…. But she'd be okay, she always was. Nothing could kill that girl, nothing.

With a slight smile at the thought, Aranea shut her eyes and drifted off into a brief nap. She was awoken suddenly by a pounding on the door- it sounded urgent and loud, what if somebody had been hurt? She was up in a second and fumbling with the lock, pulling the chain off and yanking the door open.

The sight that greeted her eyes was neither pretty, nor what she expected.

And it was coming through the door, straight at her. Groaning loudly and mouth gaping wide with arms outstretched towards her, the zombie rushed into the complex as Aranea hastily backed up.

"K-Kurloz!" she screamed, turning and running away from the thing shambling though the door. It soon turned out to be many things as Kurloz grabbed his bat to swing at the first one, smashing its skull in. Bloodied brain matter sprayed all over him, but he was already running towards the group as Aranea ran to her things. She grabbed the quickest thing she could- her little .22 mm. She wasn't very good at using it, but she didn't have much of a choice, she supposed.

Shaking she saw Kurloz in the middle of the group and shot towards the edge of the mob, luckily hitting one of the dead in the head. Her next shot wasn't so lucky, only hitting a leg- it took 2 more shots before she hit its head and it stopped moving.

Kurloz was battling his way through the rest. Most were in a bloody mess on the floor, but three remained. He swung his bat and hit one in the head and another in the stomach. As they fell to the floor, he stomped the first one's head into much and beat the other's in with the bat. He then swung it up to meet the last zombie, but it caught the bat and wrenched it from his hands.

Aranea hastily and shakily shot twice- the second barely missing Kurloz but hitting the zombie and knocking it down just before it could dig into Kurloz's shoulder. He squashed its head underneath the heel of his boot, lifting it with a sickening squelch. Aranea ran over and analyzed the group quickly- all dead. As in dead, dead. She sighed in relief and looked Kurloz over.

He was absolutely coated in blood and guts from head to toe. She couldn't tell if he was hurt or not, he was so bloody.

"Are you hurt? Did any one of those… Things bite or scratch you?" she asked softly, but worriedly. He hesitated for a brief second before shaking his head, and while Aranea found it odd, she accepted it. "Alright, let's get you cleaned up."

While he walked out of the blood and muck, she went and grabbed a towel for him to wipe off with, as well as a fresh (if you could call it that) set of clothes. Aranea turned around to let him change and went to the door, locking it again. She swallowed as she turned back around, seeing Kurloz sort of cleaned up, and the mess she had allowed to be created.

She sighed and walked around the bloody corpses over to her things, sitting down again. She put her head in her hands, shaking from the experience. The gun rested on the sleeping bag next to her. She drew in a ragged breath and reached over, putting it back into her bag.

The sound of the truck pulling in could be heard outside, and running footsteps sounded through the door. Kurloz got up to open the door at the knocking, bat at the ready. There was Meenah, stopping to look at the pile of nine corpses just inside the warehouse before running over to Aranea.

"Are you okay? Did any of them get you? You're not bit or anyfin, right??" At Aranea's slight head shake, Meenah hugged her tightly, sighing with relief. "Good. God. I'm so fucking sorry I wasn't here. We were on our way back when I heard the gunshots… If Dirk hadn't sped the fuck up I would have gotten out and ran here myself."

By this point Dirk, Roxy, and Dave had walked in, and were sort of shocked by what they saw. Roxy's hand flew to her mouth as she walked around the carnage, glancing from it, to Aranea, to Kurloz, and back again.

"What happened?" Dave asked, first to bring up the question on everybody's mind.

"One of them pounded on the door," Aranea answered shakily. "I thought it was one of you, that someone was hurt. So I yanked the door open and they rushed in. I'm lucky Kurloz acted as quickly as he did. God, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault, I'm so so sorry." She started sobbing and Meenah pulled her in protectively, whispering softly to her. She kissed her on the top of the head and helped her to curl up and drift off into a fitful sleep, even though it was early.

Dirk nodded to Dave and they started cleaning up, pushing every body part and all the blood into as much of a pile as they could and quickly moving it outside as the rest of the group came back.

As it was explained, everyone was shocked. Nothing had ever really been up this far. As they all slowly fell asleep that night, they dreamt of dangers and the dead breaking in, and none of them were sure how comfortable they really were here anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Sorry for not updating for a while guys, I know it's been over a week now- I posted this chapter on the 8th, and it's now the 20th. Problem is, the program I use to write is password protected and I changed my password and now I can't remember it. And if I can't remember it... Well, I just lost a whole lotta work and a whole lotta planning stuff that I really need. I'm working to remember the password or hack into it, but if I can't... Well, I'll try to start over from what I have on here. Sorry guys :/ If I can't remember it within the next few days- a week I'll start anew. Sorry, and thanks for your understanding!

The worst dreamer by far was the only one who couldn't scream for help.

And though he was shaking, breathing heavily, and clutching his left arm tightly, no one noticed.

No one ever noticed.

~~~~~~

He'd had this nightmare before, he knew every twist and turn of how it would go. Every painful memory it would bring back to him.

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to go. They were everywhere. All he had was an old baseball bat, for all the good it would do him. It wasn't like he could cry out for help or anything.

Kurloz was on his own, but he was used to it. He had always been on his own, even when he had… Even when he had her.

That was certainly a sensitive topic, and brought back some very uncomfortable memories. Memories of Meulin's face when the dead broke down her door. Her screams of terror as Kurloz ran towards them to try and protect his love. Her screams of pain as one slipped past him and latched itself onto her neck. The rage he had felt as he dispatched anything that came into that house, living or dead. The strange gurgling that came from his lover's throat as she turned. The look those dead eyes gave him before she- _it_ \- tried to take a bite out of him.

The pain that shot through his heart as he slammed the bat as hard as he could into her skull.

But enough of that, he was harder now. Stronger.

Kurloz shook the memory out of his thoughts and ran, as fast as he could. His best option would be to get somewhere remote, where people hadn't been. Sure, it would be rough to find food, but the dead wouldn’t be so close.

Once he was out of the city, it wouldn't be as dangerous. He could find some place to hide and-

Kurloz's vision flashed black, white, red, and black again. This wasn't a normal part of the dream- no, something was different. Or maybe not so much different, as something was happening to him. Transforming him.

Suddenly his vision was back, but the dream had skipped ahead, far ahead. Instead of trudging through the city and down the freeway, he was already in the woods.

It was odd, but the dream continued. Kurloz was picking his way through the woods about six miles from the city. It had taken him a night and a day, but he hadn't seen any of the dead since the early morning, and it was late afternoon now.

He needed to find shelter. He had taken a big risk last night sleeping out in the open, and it almost cost him his life. It wasn't exactly ideal waking up to a pile of zombies attempting to gnaw through your sleeping bag. So, shelter was the best option, and he needed to find it soon.

He continued hiking, but there wasn't exactly much out here. If worse came to worse, he would sleep in a tree.

But just ahead, there was something. A fire burning, or at least a light source. Kurloz moved cautiously, finding a group of people- actual, living people- there. People he knew. Rufioh recognized him first and brought him into the group. And as much as he would have preferred to be alone, Kurloz had to admit to himself that being in a group offered more protection.

His vision flashed again, and now the dream had changed itself. No longer was Kurloz in the dream where he and the group lost members- Mituna and Latula- and had to struggle to survive.

Now he was back in the warehouse, hearing Aranea scream for help. He was up in a second, grabbing his bat and rushing to save her.

The first one went down pretty easily. But there were eight more to deal with, and they were all mobbing him. Swinging his bat, Kurloz managed to brain two of them. Shots were fired and Aranea hit two more. As she hit her second one, Kurloz felt something latch onto his arm, and had he been able, would have cried out in pain. He slammed the bottom of his bat through the zombie's skull, forcing it to drop its grip as it crumpled to the ground.

He pulled down his jacket sleeve before Aranea could notice the blood and the bite.

There were three left. Kurloz managed to hit the first two and squash their brains open once they were on the ground. The last one snatched his bat from him, and if it hadn't been for Aranea shooting him down, he would've had another bite, closer to his heart. Crushing the last things head with his foot, he looked around to make sure nothing was left.

Aranea was worried about him, he knew, but he couldn't show her the bite. He had to hide it, even though that wasn't exactly the best plan. He thought that maybe he could fight it, unlike those who had never tried.

And fight it he did.

Throughout the rest of the day, Kurloz could feel the wound festering and the infection or venom or whatever you wanted to call it attempting to spread. But he had used his belt to knot of his arm as best he could. It wouldn't reach his heart that quickly.

He knew that his best chances would be to cut off his arm, but something stopped him. The part of him that his Meulin still lived in. He missed her, and frankly, dying couldn't be so bad if he got to see her again, could it?

Over the rest of the day, Kurloz could feel it spreading. At least, the death. His arm was going cold, numb, almost like it was stuck in ice. He tried to flex his fingers, but couldn't. When he looked at his arm again, the tissue had gone grey. The veins were all very pronounced, and ran a purplish-black.  His fingernails were the same color. When he touched the flesh, it felt cold, hard, decaying and dead.

A normal dead body wouldn't be like that so quickly, but it must be something about the infection that caused it to speed up. He scratched at it lightly, and a small chunk came off.

Shit.

Shit shit shit shit shit.

Kurloz kept a glove on that hand and favored the arm, but no one else noticed. He was left alone, as usual.

That night, he had trouble falling asleep, but when he did, his dreams were off. Not right. And subconsciously, he knew why.

As he slept, the infection had its chance to spread without his interference. It was slowly penetrating his heart, and all his bodily tissues. Quickly it would taint his brain, and once that happened…. He would be gone. And he would probably take his friends down with him.

That was when he realized his mistake. No one could fight this virus, this infection, this plague. It would spread to everyone. No one was safe. By thinking he could fight it, Kurloz had inadvertently caused his friends to die. Killed them. He should have killed himself when he had the chance.

But it was too late for that now.

The sound of gurgling filled his head. Bloodlust, too. A soft, but persistent craving for flesh. He knew he didn't really need it to survive, no. He was dead, he could keep going without it. But that smell, the thought of the taste of blood and the texture of raw flesh…. It was like an addiction. He could try to go without it, he could. But he would fail.

Sitting up, he opened his eyes. They could barely see, they were all cloudy. But they could make out some obstacles, and they could make out the heat signatures only living things had. He could distinguish between heat and bodies, between dead and living. And there were several potential meals here.

The smell. It was overpowering. His breath ragged, not that he needed to breath without living tissue. He slowly pushed himself into a standing position and began limping towards the nearest hunk of flesh. The big, muscly one closest to him.

But there was something holding him back. Not in his head, no. But a literal something. That was it, a sword pierced through his chest and a hand around the back of his neck.

He attempted to turn but the grip held him tight. He snapped his teeth and attempted to reach around and grab his captor.

"Sorry this happened to you, bro. Sorry you had to go through this. But I'm not sorry for what I'm about to do. That's my brother you're going after you son of a bitch, and you won't lay a fucking finger on him." The voice behind him was just a meaningless jumble of sounds, though. He couldn't comprehend it.

But he could feel the blade slide out from his chest, and into his brain.

Blackness. Blackness, and lack of pain.

Finally.

~~~~~~

Pulling his sword clear of Kurloz's skull and kicking him away from his brother, Dave turned to the rest of the group, all awake now with wide eyes. Aranea looked the most frightened, possibly because she felt responsible for this.

"Why didn't you tell us he was bitten?" Dave asked through gritted teeth, more close to yelling than anything.

"I-I didn't know! I swear!" Aranea cried.

"Leave her alone," Meenah growled, shielding Aranea.

"Calm down, Dave," Dirk muttered, holding onto Roxy as she stared at the zombie who used to be part of their group.

Tensions were high, but the group hurried to move Kurloz's body outside. But they knew they couldn't stay here.

They would have to leave their save haven, there were too many memories here now and the zombies were obviously desperate to make their way up here.

Leaving would be hard, but they had no choice.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally gave up and just wrote the chapter. Hopefully you guys like it!!

Even though it was early morning, still dark out, the group began packing up what goods they could. With eight people, all their supplies, and only two vehicles, they had to get creative. Speed was important, obviously, as shelter was not a guarantee at this point, and you wouldn’t particularly want to be stuck outside with the dead roaming around aimlessly.

There was enough room between the five seats in Roxy’s car and the three in the truck for everyone, even if it would be a bit cramped. The most important supplies like food and water would go in the car’s trunk, and all the rest strapped into the bed of the truck. They had to leave behind probably a couple days’ worth of venison, but dried and nonperishable foods were easiest for on the go, and attracted less undead attention than a bloody hunk of meat.

“Where exactly are we plannin’ to go, Strider?” Meenah asked as the last of the sleeping bags was thrown into the truck bed. And it was a good question, too. In all the worry of zombies or infection in the warehouse and the desire to leave, planning hadn’t exactly gone that far.

The road that was near the warehouse- the same place they found Meenah’s group- ran east to west, San Francisco and the semi-truck being to the east. There was no way they could head down there. The city was overrun with the dead, and any hiding places would surely be infested as well. It would provide no sense of safety, and benefits would be slim.

Their only option was to head west, which, unfortunately, meant going towards several cities that were undoubtedly overrun. But the choice between going near the infection and straight into a hellhole filled with it was clear.

“West. We’re going west,” Dirk replied after a moment, with a slight nod.

“Well, yeah, that’s obvious, but _where?_ Headin’ west is a great start, but where are we goin’? At this point, wanderin’ aimlessly is probably not the best idea.” Meenah sighed, putting her arm around Aranea’s waist. “We need a definite place, Dirk. Otherwise we end up just like Kurloz.”

Aranea winced at the mention of the name. She felt guilty. Like it was her fault. He had gotten bit protecting her, and she should have checked him for bites before he got dressed. Then maybe… Maybe he could have been saved, somehow.

Her mind set to figuring out where to go, just like everyone else. But they had all ended up here through random circumstances, no one lived around here. Except… Maybe…

“My grandparents used to have a summer home just north of Seaside, Oregon. It might be safe to go there,” Aranea chimed in hopefully.

“Seaside… That’s maybe ten hours away from here, I’m not sure we have enough gas…” Dirk muttered, thinking.

“We can raid cars and gas stations on our way. At least it’s some sort of a goal, a place to be. Better than nothing,” Meenah added.

Dirk sighed and nodded. “Better than nothing.”

So the group set out for Oregon. Without GPS or anything of the like, they relied on scattered street signs and general intuition. Head northwest. Find the ocean. Get to Seaside. When cars were found, they were raided for every last drop of fuel. Gas stations, too. At this point, though, there wasn’t much to be found but zombies and personal possessions.

At one point Roxy broke down in tears at the sight of an old, stuffed bunny in the middle of the road. It was covered in blood, and unfortunately, carried a sad tale of a child who got mixed up in this mess.

But they began to make progress. Closer to the larger cities, more abandoned vehicles showed up. Ones stuck in traffic jams that people had obviously just gotten up and ran from, leaving tanks full of gas. It was an all too familiar sight, a well-known memory.

 You’re trying to get out of the city, and so is everyone else. You glance behind yourself in sheer terror, worry, and that’s when you see it. A huge wave of the dead, crawling, limping, running, climbing towards you. You get out of your car, hoping to run away from the mass.

But you’ll never make it.

No one does.

~~~~~~

Around seven hours in, they decided to stop for food. Just a quick meal of jerky and crackers. It was maybe three o’clock, judging by the sun. Five hours left to go if they just drove without stopping, which wouldn’t happen. They had to hurry. If night fell while they were still driving, they’d be in danger…

While eating, however, they could hear something. Which was odd, considering the fact that they were in the middle of absolute nowhere.

It wasn’t anything recognizable. Not a car engine, helicopter, plane… Not the normal sounds of zombies, and not something any animal they knew of could make.

Still, they took off again, just to be safe. No point in endangering eight lives for the sake of investigating a noise.

Except the closer they got to Seaside, the louder the noise got. And the more it sounded like the dead.

~~~~~~

About 3 hours away from their destination, they were running low on fuel again. Stopping just outside of the nearest town, they tried to find some fuel in the traffic jams.

The noise was loud here, definitively like the groaning of the dead, as well as screaming, but inhuman screams.

Looking towards the town, Roxy walked off just a bit to investigate. And what she found was one part genius, two parts terrifying.

The town was entirely walled in. All the sides were built up with these huge, cement bricks. There was one spot at the road where the bricks jutted out, and Roxy assumed it was because they covered some sort of gate.

This had either been built to keep the dead out, or to keep the dead in. Whichever it was, the place must have been full of zombies. Anything that had lived there was 100% dead. Or undead, at least.

The roar kept getting louder, almost. It seemed like it was getting closer… And that’s when Roxy realized what was happening.

The zombies had to be climbing the wall, somehow. She could hear thumping against it, like bodies running into it. And if they couldn’t break through it, they had to be climbing.

Roxy ran over to the others. Dirk was filling up one of the spare gas cans, Rufioh was filling the other. Roxy hurriedly pointed out her observation. “We have to get out of here. Now!! If I’m right, they’re climbing that wall and we’ll be covered in walkers if we don’t _get the fuck out._ ”

Turns out, Roxy was right. Just as everyone was back in the cars, the dead began to spill over. Just a few, at first, and they had a long way to fall. But the few who weren’t too broken to move immediately began after the group. Not surprising, considering that they were the only food source around for miles. Needless to say, they sped the fuck out of there, unfortunately losing a gas can in the process.

~~~~~~

They were only about an hour out now, according to Dirk’s intuition and various road signs. Those signs weren’t pretty, however.

There were the standard ones, covered in blood. Then the ones somebody wrote on that they shouldn’t go to seaside, it was too dangerous. But where else were they supposed to go?

Aranea spent the entire trip deep in thought, trying to remember the exact directions to the summer home. It was far enough away from the city itself that she thought they would be okay. At least, as she remembered it was.

Several miles out from the city there began to be more bodies lying around, many half eaten. It wasn’t promising, though they hadn’t seen any undead yet.

Aranea had them turn onto a gated road. If she remembered correctly (and the battery power that ran it was still functioning) the passcode was 0413. She got out of the car, much to Meenah’s dismay, and entered the code, which luckily opened the gate.

Even that was more than she could have hoped for.

Aranea wasn’t sure what she expected to find here. Her grandparents? No, it wouldn’t be possible for them to have survived this long. Her mother was dead as far as she knew.

What were the chances that the house was even clear of the dead?

She sighed as the car pulled up next to the house. The windows were all boarded up, and the white paint was peeling and stained with what she could only hope wasn’t blood. Aranea walked right up to the door, though everyone else was scouting the surroundings. Trying it, she found it locked.

The back door was just the same. However, she briefly saw movement from one of the upper windows near the front of the house- a blue curtain, pulled back then quickly released. She ran to the front again, and knocked, breathing raggedly. Maybe someone was here who would let them in! Maybe it was her family… But no, that was definitely too much to hope.

Aranea knocked again, and heard a lock click, saw the door open.

It was who was inside that she wasn’t expecting to see.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ehehehe uh sorry for the rather unexpected hiatus! hopefully i can try to update more often now that my writers block is over, though no guarantees because of school. enjoy!

A black eye patch covering a dead eye. Frazzled blonde and blue curls, matted with dirt and blood. Tattered jeans and a torn grey jacket tied off across the stump of an arm. A hesitant look and a knife in hand.

A moment of silence, and an eyeful of tears.

“… Rainie?”

“Vriska?!”

A sudden embrace, the kind that you only get through long lost family.

“God I thought you’d died,” Vriska muttered, voice gritty and almost accusing.

“I could say the same of you, little sister.” The tears were plain in Aranea’s voice, and the look of pure joy changed to one of immense anger and sadness. “You never came home. They told us you had lost a limb, but you never came home and mom and I didn’t know if you were even still alive!” She pulled back from her sister, tears flowing down her face. “We thought we’d lost you. I never imagined that you could even be…”

Vriska looked away, turning around and walking back inside the house. “You guys should probably come inside. I think you lead some of our lovely dead friends back here,” she said over her shoulder, ignoring what Aranea said. Now that the group was listening, they could hear what Vriska heard- the slow thump of dragging feet, the groan of something that’s not human.

The group hurried inside, happy to have found some sort of shelter. And with people they might know, too.

“The rest of the group’s upstairs in the bonus room. You guys got any extra supplies?” Vriska asked, unlocking and pulling aside a fortified child gate of sorts and leading them up the stairs. “Lock that, will ya?” she called out to the last member of the group, Dave. He did so and proceeded up the stairs.

What they found upstairs was another, fairly good sized group, all of whom stood up as people came up the stairs, looking for anyone they knew. Obviously Aranea and Vriska recognized each other, but the others were looking for specific people.

The first thing Rufioh did after looking around was turn to Vriska, knowing that she and his baby brother had somewhat of a relationship. “He… He didn’t make it, did he? Tavros?” Vriska shook her head slightly, sadly. “Damn. I… I guess it was probably too much to hope for. Thanks anyways, doll.” Rufioh swallowed hard and walked off over to the chair in the far corner of the room, flopping down, dejected. He knew it was too much to ever hope for but…

Though no one else had family here, it was still a slightly happy reunion of friends. Even in this mess of an apocalypse, there was still some happy things in the world for everyone. Friends. Family. Life. All good things, in the end.

While everyone was meeting up again, hugging, crying, happy to be together, Aranea quickly pulled Vriska off to the side, tears and anger plain in her eyes. “How could you, Vriska? How could you just leave mom and I like that? We thought that maybe you had turned, not just lost an arm, but _turned._ Do you understand how terrifying that is? Do you understand how frightened I was? Vriska, I didn’t know what happened to you. I-“

“Shut the fuck up Aranea and listen for once,” Vriska snapped, interrupting her older sister’s tirade. “Don’t you think that I would have come home if I could? Do you know how being out there, on foreign soil, watching your _best friends_ die right in front of you, because of _another god damn person_ makes you feel? The infection started in Afghanistan, you know. It started while _I was there_. You think they were telling the truth when they said my arm got blown off in an attack? They lied. Fuck, Aranea, I was _bitten_ back there. In the beginning of it all, I was one of the first bites. They had to amputate, and then they kept me locked up under tight surveillance for months, observing me.

I wasn’t allowed out, Rainie. I only got out when everyone in the facility was dead and I fought like hell to get out of there. Barely managed to catch a helicopter of civilians out of there. Barely managed to get back home. Because I did go home, you know. Yeah I went home to you being gone, blood everywhere, and a wonderful zombie-mom greeting. Imagine how _that_ felt.

I was lucky to find any survivors.

At one point I found Tavros, I guess… But he… Hell, Rainie, he killed himself so he wouldn’t be a burden to me. He did that for me. How do you think that makes me feel? God I… Rainie, listen, I wanted to come home. I _did_ come home. I just didn’t come home to you and I really wish you would fucking let that go because I’m just happy that we’re finally back together and that you’re alive and why can’t you just leave it at that?”

At this point tears were flowing freely down Vriska’s face. Her words came out blubbery and mumbled and fast, her voice cracking as she tried to explain things to her sister. And of course, the first thing Aranea did was embrace her sister.

“Goodness, Vriska, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I ever doubted you I should have known something like that had happened… I should never have accused you of anything…”

“It’s okay, Rainie... You couldn’t have known. Just... Can we just be sisters again? Because as bitchy as either of us can get we’re still family, right?”

Aranea smiled.

“Right.”

~~~~~~

The day slowly drug on. The groups settled together, managing to make 5 short runs out to the cars to get the last of their supplies. It was true that the noise of Dirk’s group had drawn a large amount of the dead- they were surrounding the area around the house.

Supply runs involved 3 people, namely Dirk, Meenah, and Vriska, who would run out and gather as many supplies as possible before running back in. Dirk and Meenah were the runners. Vriska stood watch with a gun, which had a heavy duty silencer, selectively taking out those zombies Dirk and Meenah couldn’t take care of themselves.

By the time they were done, it was almost what they could assume to be dinner time.

Between both sets of supplies, they had enough variety for their first real meal in what seemed like forever.

They had green beans, stuffing, spam (not the greatest, but it was better than the repetitive stale cereal and tough jerky), and, through some miracle or another, a can of sweet cherry pie filling to make a whole pie. It may sound a little unconventional, but when they had gone without for so long… Anything seemed like a God-send.

Vriska’s group still had selective generator power they normally saved for emergencies, but this was a special case.

Everyone sat down around the Serket’s grandmother’s old dining table, and though they were missing a few, precious friends, it was almost like old times. At least, if you could ignore the dead clawing at the windows.

The food was better than anyone could have imagined. They could hardly get enough. Having fresh (ish) food, they scrambled desperately to get a good portion. Aranea kept them in line, though. Everyone got an equal share of everything, and everyone ate every last bit they were given.

After they had eaten, everyone went back upstairs. It had been a long day, but at the same time, a long needed day.

The day’s reunions and comforts were something both groups needed. That _the_ group needed. They were together now, and hopefully they would stay that way.

~~~~~~

In one of the other rooms of the upper floor, another someone was awoken by all the racket of the reunion

Whoever it was, apparently no one had thought it appropriate to wake him up for fucking dinner. Hmmph. How kind of them.

Something felt off to him, too. Something… Wrong. He had felt it for a few days at least, but it just felt worse somehow. Intensified. Like the cause of his worries and feelings was right there with him…

He sat up, stretching and scratching his stomach. He glanced out the window, seeing the setting sun, and stood up.

There were more voices than usual, he thought, coming from the bonus room. More voices… Maybe… No, it couldn’t be that. There was no way he could have made it out of all this alive AND found this little hideout. What were the chances…?

He hurried out of his room, messy black hair in a dark halo of curls around his head. He stopped in the doorway to the room, scanning faces.

He recognized some of the new ones.

Pinpointing Meenah, he stopped, squinting.

There was someone missing.

Someone very important to him.

“Where the fuck is my motherfucking brother?” He asked, the three claw marks across his face scrunching up in anger.

Dave looked up from what he was doing, recognizing the facial features and family resemblance. He stood, walking in front of the group to face a certain Gamzee Makara.

“He’s dead. I killed him.”


	9. Chapter 9

Gamzee’s fists clenched at his side. “Ahaha, very fucking funny. I must have heard you motherfucking wrong. You did _what_ , to my brother?”

“Oh, I see, you’re one of the slow ones. Let me spell it out for you,” Dave began before Dirk tried to cut him off.

“Bro, don’t-“

“Shut the fuck up, Dirk. Now, as I was saying… _I. Killed. Your. Brother.”_ Dave made sure to speak extremely slow and to over-exaggerate his motions, first pointing to himself, then miming a stabbing, then pointing to Gamzee, and finally pointing to his own brother in relation to himself.

Gamzee growled, eyes flaring in rage. “I heard you the first fucking time, motherfucker. I had _assumed_ that you said something wrong. Because why the _fuck_ would you kill _my_ brother?” He glanced over to Dirk, before a cruel grin appeared on his face.

Dirk knew what he was thinking before it even happened. “No, Gamzee, you don’t understand, we can talk about this-“

Gamzee cut him off. “So, Dave, wasn’t it? You have ten seconds to fucking explain what fucking happened before I do the exact same thing to you that you fucking did to me.”

“AKA get talking before I kill your motherfucking brother.”

Dave glared, tensing. “You won’t be layin’ a fucking finger on my baby brother, you son of a bitch. Because you wanna know _why_ I killed your brother? Yeah? Because he turned into a goddamn walker and tried to _kill my motherfucking brother._ Just like you are threatening to do right now, asshat. So I’d rethink that plan.”

Dave now had his katana in hand, standing protectively in front of Dirk. He wasn’t about to let someone even get close to doing anything to his bro. Not again, not ever.

Gamzee growled again, and at this point the entire group was sort of paused, weapons in various states of preparation, watching Gamzee.

Meenah stepped forward, machete at the ready. She had always thought that Gamzee was going to snap, ever since she met him at one of Meulin’s get-togethers at Kurloz’s place. He was too calm, too antisocial, always riding out some sort of high. And the second the apocalypse began, he had no access to any of that.

She guessed that he had gone a little bit psycho earlier than this, too. Probably how he got those claw marks across his face. It couldn’t be from one of the dead, otherwise he wouldn’t be here right now. So he must have attacked someone living, who probably attacked right back.

It was a miracle no one had kicked him out of the group yet.

Gamzee’s voice snapped Meenah back out of her reverie.

“My brother was a lot fucking smarter than you seem to think. If he knew he was going to turn he wouldn’t have stayed with you motherfuckers. Kurloz doesn’t risk lives. And if you are under the motherfucking impression that I believe you, you’re wronger than you’ve ever fucking been.”

“Jesus, Gamzee, calm down,” Meenah butted in, machete at her side. “If you need someone’s testimony, I can give it. The dead attacked our compound. Your brother saved my girlfriend, which I’ll admit, I’m grateful for, but then he decided not to fuckin’ tell any of us he was bit and tried to kill us. So calm the fuck down, because Dave’s tellin’ the god damned truth, and you better fuckin’ listen. I’m not interested in havin’ a fight our first day here.”

Gamzee glared in Meenah’s direction, but, with everyone’s eyes on him, lowered his club.

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, but they were still wary of Gamzee. He promptly stormed out of the room, back into the room he called his own, slamming the door.

How _dare_ that motherfucking god damned bitch Meenah step in and interrupt him. That. Was not. Her motherfucking. Place.

He and Dave were dealing just fucking fine. Dave had obviously wanted a fight in the first place, and Gamzee needed some fucking release over his brother.

Because the Kurloz _he_ knew would _never_ in a million years let _anyone_ die because of him. He was in innocent kid who couldn’t talk and was bad at math. He had the sweetest fucking girlfriend you could imagine and would never hurt a fly.

The Kurloz he knew took care of people. He was going to nursing school for fucks sake, and he was going to save some people.

Hell, he was studying the zombie virus before it hit the US so hard. He was on his way to developing some way to fix it, Gamzee was sure of that. Kurloz was going to save as many people as he could before time ran out.

He, out of anybody, would have known that by not showing anyone the bite and letting it fester he wasn’t doing what was best for anybody, so he would have left right then and there to save everybody else.

Kurloz. Wouldn’t. Let. Anyone. Die.

Gamzee punched his wall, slamming an indent into the plaster. He kicked over his lamp, shattering the ceramic base and the light bulb. He was just so _angry._

Kurloz was the best motherfucking kid he had ever known.

No one could deny that.

He’d never allow himself to lay an undead finger on his friends, no matter what had happened.

Didn’t Meenah say he saved her girlfriend, Aranea or whatever, first?

_That_ was the Kurloz he knew. Not an undead monster snappin’ his jaws at the closest living target.

Gamzee stopped his mental rage, and stopped destroying his room. Because he had a way to make this up to himself. Oh, you fucking bet he did.

He grabbed his other club from under his pillow, setting the two of them on the bed. He pulled a backpack out from the closet, shoving random clothes and some lasting food he had snagged from the group supplies a while back into it.

Throwing the bag around his shoulders, he grabbed his clubs, and opened the door. He set them down just outside the door, and ran back in for a roll of duct tape on his desk.

Gamzee walked down the hall, barely peeking inside the bonus room, and caught Aranea’s attention, all sneaky like, and lured her out into the hallway.

“Hey, can you come to my room for a minute so we can have a little fucking chat? I don’t want to go back in there, but I need to tell you something,” he said quietly, almost innocently.

“Oh, of course! I’m sure they won’t miss me for a few minutes,” Aranea replied, far too trusting of him.

Gamzee led her to his room, promptly shoving her against the wall and slapping a strip of duct tape across her mouth, as well as wrapping a strip around her wrists.

“Now you better be fucking quiet, but don’t be afraid to give a good fucking looksee at your little lover girl. I’m sure she’ll appreciate this.”

Gamzee grabbed her by the hair, dragging her town the hall back to the bonus room after grabbing his clubs.

Everyone was dead silent upon seeing him.

“Thanks for the motherfucking silence.”

Meenah tried to interrupt him and ran forward, until he held his club up next to Aranea’s face.

“Ah ah ah, Meenah. Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to your fucking girlfriend, would ya? No, I didn’t think so. Now. Down to motherfucking business. I know you’re lying about my brother. Kurloz would never do that. But being the fucking nice guy that I am, I’m gunna leave you alive, _Dave,_ consider yourself motherfucking lucky.

However, I can’t just let you off the fucking hook that easily. So I’ve figured something out. I’m gunna go. You won’t ever have to hear from me again, you motherfuckers. But just as a little _parting gift_ , I’d like to do to you, what you fuckers have done to me.

This is for, you, baby brother. Rest in motherfucking peace.”

And with that, Gamzee raised his club and slammed it down has hard as he could on Aranea’s skull, dropping her with a muffled scream. Then he hightailed it the fuck out of there, sprinting down the stairs 3 at a time and out the front door. He left it open, and ran off into a random direction before anyone could catch him.

The first thing Meenah did was run over and drop down next to Aranea. Vriska did the same.

Aranea’s head was completely split open. Blood was everywhere, along with what could only be assumed as her brain.

Meenah felt for a pulse, tears in her eyes.

“No no no no no!” she repeated, sobbing. No pulse. No more Aranea.

Vriska sat back, shocked. Her sister… She just barely got her back, and now she was gone already? Through her tears, her mind began to register the blood. So much blood. He vision seemed to be going red with it, or maybe that was with hate.

She stood up, grabbing a pistol out of Jake’s hands, and ran down and out after Gamzee. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you just have to realize that not everyone was meant to be saved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I haven't updated in a few months!! I'm updating now though, and the next couple of chapters are basically prewritten in my head so those should be out fairly quickly. Also, I apologize to those of you attached to certain characters. I really do.

That was her sister. What the hell did she ever do? Nothing. Aranea was just _there_.

Gamzee had gone too far this time. She could deal with the killing of those who had been bit or scratched, but killing Aranea without a reason? Too fucking far.

And Vriska wasn’t going to stand for it.

She ran down the stairs and out the front door, leaving it ajar. She looked around wildly to figure out where Gamzee had gone, noting the drops of blood leading east, towards the forest, and the dead who were meandering in that direction.

Angrily, Vriska ran in that direction, shoving Jake’s pistol into her jeans and ripping her knife out of her boot. She needed to save bullets for the asshole who killed her sister.

Upon seeing her, the dead gravitated in her direction, rather than Gamzee’s. She stabbed one through the skull as it tried for her good arm, the next in the eye when it went for her stump.

Just as she was reaching the forest, she heard a voice yelling from the house, and turned.

“Vriska! Vriska! Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Kanaya yelled from the porch. “He’s already too far gone, and if you are going after him, you need someone else with you! Plus you have people relying on you, here, Vriska.”

Vriska sighed. Damn Maryam was probably right. She took a deep breath, looking at Kanaya and shaking her head. “Kan, I have to!! That was my sis-“ Her reply stopped abruptly and turned into more of a scream as one of the dead latched itself onto her leg, ripping out a chunk of her calf and dropping her to the ground.

“Vriska!” Kanaya screamed, moving to run to her aid. Meenah ran out, telling Kanaya to stay there, and ran to Vriska machete in hand.

The younger of the Serkets was fighting off the dead as best she could, regardless of the pain in her leg. She stabbed the one on her leg through the skull, before throwing her knife aside in favor of the pistol she had grabbed from Jake.

She shot, once, twice, three times, hitting two zombies and narrowly missing the third. She tried to shoot again. _Click. Click click click._ No more bullets. Vriska screamed again as two more zombies descended on her, one biting her leg and the other her forearm, before everything went dark.

Meenah ran forward, slicing through both of them, and the third that tried to go for Vriska’s throat. Having managed to get most of them, she hooked her arms under Vriska’s, dragging her quickly towards the house and onto the porch.

“Someone help her goddamnit!!” She yelled, tears in her eyes.

Dirk put his hands on her shoulders. “Meenah! Meenah, calm down! There’s nothing we can do! I mean we can try to amputate but… Meenah, calm!” His former roommate was sobbing, screaming, trying to run inside for help.

Between losing Aranea, then losing the one person who could talk to her about her death, she was losing it.

But she stopped screaming the second she heard the garbled moan coming from behind her as Vriska rolled over, teeth gnashing and going for Meenah’s ankle.

Dave slammed his katana through her head, silencing her for good.

~~~~~~

It had been 3 days since Aranea and Vriska died. They were buried as well as they could be behind the house. It only seemed fitting that they be buried behind a family home.

The entire group was a mess.

Three leaders had been lost. Aranea, who made all the best planning decisions to keep them alive. Vriska, who could not have been a better leader under the circumstances. And Meenah, who couldn’t let go.

Meenah hadn’t spoken or left the upstairs windowseat since Vriska died. She didn’t even go out back to help bury the Serkets. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t eat. She slept only when she passed out, and she slept in the windowseat.

It was as if she were in a coma, but she was wide awake. She would have brief responses to things, like if someone touched her she would jump, or occasionally he would press her hand against the glass. But otherwise, she didn’t respond to people, nor would she interact with them.

Meenah was functionally useless, at this point. Dirk tried his best to bring her back, begging her to please, please come help.

The group was running low on supplies, with ten mouths to feed.

Sollux insisted on a supply run. Jake agreed, and Dirk agreed out of necessity.

Together, a team was put together. Jake, Dirk, Sollux, and Equius. Kanaya, Dave, Rufioh, Damara, and, reluctantly, Roxy stayed behind to watch over the house and over Meenah, who had yet to move.

As the supply group said soft goodbyes, Meenah shifted slightly, to place a palm on the window.

And Dirk knew it was for him.

~~~~~~

A simple supply run. Easy enough, when it came down to it. Especially when it was a necessity.

Jake had been on his fair share of supply runs since all this had started. Normally, it was just him and Dirk. They made a good team. Dirk broke down the door, Jake swept the room, and they loaded up backpacks. That’s all they ever needed.

But now they had to carry enough food to support 10 people, and two people could not carry enough food to support 10 people.

So, along came Sollux and Equius.

It made Jake uneasy, in all reality. While he knew it was out of necessity, he missed the old days, when it was just him and his best friend, not to mention that he didn’t exactly trust this new group. One of them was already batshit crazy. Who knew about the others?

But Dirk trusted them, so Jake supposed he should too.

“Where, exactly, are we going? I’m assumin’ y’all know the best supply spot around here,” Dirk asked, getting into the driver’s seat of his truck.

“Jutht take a left when you head out. We’re going to the Rothauer’th. Nobody really raided thith one cauthe it’th tho thecluded behind a bunch of treeth and shit. We only went there once, and it was thtill pretty full of thome good thupplieth,” Sollux replied, hopping into the passenger seat before Jake had a chance.

Which was probably a good idea, since Sollux seemed like he actually knew where he was going.

Following Sollux’s instructions, Dirk headed out, turning left at the end of the driveway. They meandered for maybe ten minutes or so, gunning past the dead as quickly as possible, before hanging a right, a left, another right, and then a pass-through a roundabout to the Rosauer’s.

And Sollux was right, this place was fucking _loaded._ Jake could tell the damage by the dead had to have been minimal, and the raiding had to have been minimal, and everything seemed great except for that twinge of de ja vu in the back of his head.

He wasn’t sure what it was, but this place left him jittery and jumpy. Something was just… Off.

But he couldn’t just tell them to turn around based off of some uncertain gut feeling.

So, he did what he had been doing his whole life and manned up.

In hindsight, that was the wrong choice.

The group left the car parked fairly close to the entrance. Each of them had a backpack, except Equius, who had two. Dirk had his katana, Jake one of his pistols and a combat knife, Equius a very large, studded bat, and Sollux two pockets full of throwing knives.

They entered the store quickly and quietly, fanning out slightly, trying to judge the safety. So far, nothing had moved. There were no groans, no moans, no shuffling.

It seemed to be the safest place by far, and it was full of food.

The group each took an aisle, grabbing as much sustainable food as they could.

Jake had the genius idea to head back to the pharmacy to see if there were any drugs that could be useful, in the event that someone got sick.

In doing so, he passed by the bakery, and in that moment he figured out why this place made him uneasy. And it all made sense.

Jane had gone to some community college in Seaside.

Jane worked at a Rosauer’s bakery.

This was the store Jane worked in.

At that moment, Jake could barely stand. He remembered now, they had all met up nearby when it happened. In Oregon. Jane mentioned working at a Rosauer’s, Jake didn’t think much of it at the time. He was just happy she was okay. Then she… Well… She was bit. And they left her.

But really, what could be the chances that… No. They were miniscule, tiny, and practically impossible chances.

She wouldn’t be here.

Jake sat there for a few minutes, white in the face, until Dirk found him.

“Jake? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Dirk… This is… This is where…”

Then it dawned on Dirk too, but for a different reason.

That reason being that there was a zombie limping towards them, in a certain blue-ghosted shirt, tattered and bloody as it may be.

Jake hurriedly got up, pointing his gun at her, Dirk standing behind him. She just limped forward, arms outstretched, a low groan escaping her rotting throat.

And because of Jake’s feelings for Jane, Dirk decided that he better let Jake do it. They couldn’t just run from her, not again. He assumed Jake agreed.

His hands were shaking around his pistol, and he was crying.

“Jane. Crocker! This isn’t like you, you wouldn’t have turned! Jane! It’s me, it’s Jake, it’s me! Jane! Jane, I’m.. I’m sorry! Devilfucking dickens, I never meant for this to happen! I was supposed to protect you, Jane! Protect you! Good lord, I’ve failed miserably though, haven’t I…” All the while, the corpse of what could only be Jane limped closer, teeth gnashing. And if she got much closer, she’d have Jake.

But his hands were shaking. Dirk tried to prompt him to do it. Jake couldn’t. He couldn’t kill _his_ Jane.

So, he did the only thing he could think to do when you fail your best friend, your confidant, the love of your life.

And it only took one bullet, straight through his own head.

Dirk yelled, screamed, but Jake was gone, in just that split second.

The next second, Jane was on top of Jake, teeth tearing into his side.

Dirk did what Jake couldn’t, slicing his katana down through Jane’s head, without even a mumbled apology.

He was done apologizing.


	11. Chapter 11

Meenah’s palm was still pressed to the window, even after Dirk and his supply group had left, but her mind was on other things than her best friend’s safety.

Before either of the Serkets had died, Meenah had gotten a chance to sit down with Vriska, and to find out what happened to cause the outbreak.

And she remembered every detail.

~~~~~~

They had heard that the enemy was developing something new, most likely some sort of bioweapon. In war, you took any advantage you could get, and obtaining that weapon before it was used would be the greatest thing the American soldiers could do for themselves.

Vriska was sniping, on a high ledge, watching as a small group of her company went out in an attempt to retrieve the weapon.

Something was dropping from a plane, straight down onto the party on the ground. She could see lettering on the side of it through her scope- LE-413.

Vriska, and her partner Terezi, watched in horror as the bomb was dropped, Vriska watching through her scope and Terezi through a pair of binoculars.

There was a bright flash and a horrific bang, and the next thing Vriska knew, her eye felt like it was burning, exploding, and Terezi was screaming and clutching her face. Vriska had been lucky that she only saw the bomb with one eye. Looking back towards the bomb site, she saw just a cloud of gas, possibly nerve.

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath, grabbing a machine gun from Terezi’s side, leaving her partner screaming to help the rest of her company. She ran down, gun in one hand and clutching her eye with the other.

People were slowly stumbling out of the cloud, coughing and shaking. She ran towards them, and saw one fall down. She watched him, as he shook. He looked as though he was having a seizure, but worse. He was screaming, snapping around in random directions. One particular snap had him arching his back, almost like it could be breaking.

In the span of fifteen seconds, he stood back up, screaming inhumanly and shaking. He turned to someone who had just stumbled out, but hadn’t yet fallen over, and attacked him. He was biting him, ripping chunks of flesh out, then he turned to attack another. The first that he bit transformed in the same way, but even faster, in something more like seven seconds.

Then all those that had gone through that transformation spotted the group of them that hadn’t been hit by the gas, and ran towards them, inhumanly fast.

There was definitely something wrong with them, something horrifically wrong with them.

“Fuck,” she muttered, slowing down, but not wanting to straight up shoot her comrades without knowing that they weren’t themselves.

As some of those around her kept running, they were attacked by the group that had been changed by the gas, being bitten and possibly being eaten. Some of them turned slower, others turned faster, but Vriska had no way to pick out who would turn when.

So she turned and ran back towards base. But before she could make it, one of the others attacked her, biting her left arm. She shook him off, and ran as fast she could. Her heart was thumping, and she was terrified that she would become one of them, but she hadn’t turned yet, so maybe she could make it.

They opened the gate when they saw her running, but as far she knew she was the last of her company that hadn’t gone batshit insane.

She ran in, babbling out the situation before they noticed the bite. And in the heat of the moment, they did the one thing they thought they could do- they cut her arm off.

She was left screaming as they rushed her to the medical compound, where they briefly dressed her stump of an arm and locked her in quarantine, where she could be observed.

***************************************************

Vriska screamed about needing help for a few minutes, before she realized that no one was going to help her. She just decided to feel lucky that she didn’t appear to be turning, yet. She looked in the window, staring at her reflection. Her right eye was red, bloody. She had no sight from it, and it vaguely looked as if her eye had exploded or something like that. She tore off a section of her shirt to make a makeshift eye patch for her burned eye, because there wasn’t much else she could do.

She then sat down on the bed on one side of the room, eyeing the scientist observing her. After a few hours, they slid a meal through a slit below the door, which she ate. An hour later, she went to sleep.

Things went on like this for weeks, maybe even months. Eventually, there was only one scientist left, but they kept her there, even when they could tell that there was no infection possible in Vriska. They just said that keeping her there was safer for her, and they didn’t want word of how everything started getting out

That one last scientist, though, he made a different decision. He opened her door, and released her, telling her that everyone else had turned and that if she could get out, she should. He also explained the details of the infection, from what they had observed.

It had started out as a nerve gas, labeled LE-413, but the testing that had been done was minimal and the result was not what was intended. What should have just caused seizures and death went parasitic, with a strong survival instinct. The parasite affect the frontal lobe, essentially shutting down all independent thought and function. It strengthened the primal instincts, and instincts for survival.

It transformed people into basically brain dead beings, only going after survival. The parasite lived on human flesh, but needed the human host to protect itself. In the beginning it needed to spread itself, using biting as the method of transfer. After that, any living and non-infected host was fair game to eat.

The parasite could survive for extended periods of time without eating, but lived in a sort of dormant state until life was detected.

They could only be killed by a shot to the head, or the destruction of the brain and thus the parasite.

The rates at which people were controlled varied from person to person, but scientist suspected it was through will of the mind that someone could survive longer. When a person had a strong mind, and was not overcome with emotion, they took longer to turn, up to several hours. But those with slower minds, or less willpower lost quickly, in as little as seven seconds.

After telling her this, the scientist pulled out a pistol, and killed himself.

Vriska was left with no choice but to pick up his rucksack and fill it with what food she could, grabbing his gun and moving to break out of the compound.

She fought tooth and nail, shooting these… Zombies in the head, as she had been instructed. Others she killed by slamming heads into the wall, when she could, or hitting them with the butt of her gun.

She managed to make it out of the compound alive an unbitten, and she located a nearby city. It was mainly overrun by zombies, but Vriska managed to locate a group of civilians who were still alive and working. They used a satellite phone Vriska acquired in the compound to call for rescue, and they were lucky to receive the rescue they needed.

Vriska then found her way back to America, and then back to her home.

But instead of being greeted by a safe country, a safe city, a safe home, she was greeted by the dead.

And by her dead mother, without a sister in sight.

~~~~~~

That was all that Meenah remembered, or perhaps all Vriska had told her.

She zoned back in slightly, back to the real world. She dropped her hand from the glass, seeing as Dirk pulling back up to the house. He was obviously angry, but seeing him snapped her out of her depression, especially the way he appeared to be acting.

Something had happened, and that thought scared her.

But before she could move, she saw something else.

She saw Gamzee, coming back to the house, but it wasn’t the Gamzee that had left.

And this new Gamzee was being led on a leash, by two children.


	12. Chapter 12

Three hours later, and Dirk was brooding in one of the empty bedrooms. That had been his best friend. Well, maybe best friend wasn’t the right word. Brother was more like it, most of the time. There were a few exceptions, but lately brother had been the right term.

And he was dead. Gone. He took his own life because everything was too much. Hell, Dirk had considered doing the same enough times, but it just seemed wrong. Unfair. Selfish.

The shit had hit the fan, but eventually the world ran out of shit and everything had to get better, right?

It had to.

It wasn’t fair. None of it. No one deserved to die.

Jake especially.

Jake would never deserve to die.

Dirk looked up at a knock on the door, seeing Meenah standing in the doorway.

“You doin’ alright?” she asked, arms crossed and obviously worried.

“Yeah,” he muttered, turning away to lay back on the bed and stare at the ceiling. She walked over and flopped down beside him.

“Don’t lie to me, Strider.”

“I’m just upset is all. You know damn well why. He was like a brother to me.  And now he’s dead, all because of a dead girl. And don’t get me wrong, I loved Jane to death.” He winced slightly, and added, “Bad choice of words. But really, she was a good friend. Just not worth shooting himself in the head because he saw her. She was a walker. Dead.”

“She wasn’t dead,” Meenah said softly, closing her eyes. Dirk sat up quickly, turning towards her incredulously.

“ _What?_ Are you insane? Of course they’re dead, Meenah. There’s no getting out of that one. Their flesh is rotting off their bones and they’re trying to eat the rest of us. They’re definitely dead. Or undead, I guess. The walking dead. But that doesn’t matter, dead is dead.”

Meenah shook her head slightly. “Vriska told me how it started. She was there, you know. It was some kind of nerve gas or something. They called it LE-413. The bomb dropped, and people just started turning, even faster than they do now, I guess. They discovered that the gas mutated into a parasite that took over people. Essentially it feeds on flesh but it needs a healthy host to survive, and those zombies out there are its chosen host. It’s why they didn’t feed in the beginning and only bit- they needed to spread themselves and ensure their own survival.

The hosts are more brain-dead than anything. I’m pretty sure that if you were to remove the parasite the people would be technically alive, but not exactly living if you know what I mean. The people are gone. Their bodies still exist, even though they’re rotting away because they’re only surviving for the parasite’s use. So, Jane or whatever her name was wasn’t dead. Just… Brain-dead.”

Dirk sat back down, scooting back against the wall. “That’s… That’s a lot different than I thought it was.”

“Me too,” Meenah said softly, sighing. She opened her eyes and sat up, stretching before she stood. Walking over to the door, she glanced back at Dirk, staring as if assessing if it was safe for her to leave or not. “You should come back downstairs. We found a couple kids, I think you saw them, but you really should come meet them.”

And with that, she left. Dirk sighed, lifting up his glasses to rub his eyes. A parasite. It seemed logical, more logical than dead people being reanimated by a necromancer or something, but it still seemed a little out there. But he didn’t really want to think about it. As far as he was concerned, they were dead. If they were brain-dead, they were still dead in a world where access to good doctors was probably one in a million.

He stood up, stretching and cracking his shoulders, neck, and back. He looked out the window, spotting the Gamzee zombie chained to a tree that was close to the yard. It didn’t surprise him that when Gamzee ran off he came back dead. What surprised him was the fact that he came back because he was led by two little kids.

He guessed he better go hear what they had to stay. So, he got up, and walked out of the room.

~~~~~~

The kids were twelve year old twins named Caliborn and Calliope. They had been on their own since almost the beginning, when they lost their mother and were left alone, but they didn’t seem to mind. The twins had learned early on that if they cut of the jaw and arms of the zombies, they could be led around and used as a protection of sorts from the others.

It was the safest option for two kids with no weapon experience.

Along the way, Caliborn had picked up a machine gun, and Calliope a bloodied white pistol that she had yet to use.

They were harder than you would expect a pair of twelve year olds to be. Caliborn was a ruthless killing machine, quick to anger and quick to kill. He didn’t care about where people had come from or who they were, while his sister was a large believer in the fact that they were all still people and it was wrong to kill them. She had only killed two zombies, both when she and her brother would have died had she not. But she had no qualms about killing animals, standing up for herself, and taking anything deemed her own. She had a very realistic life view, saying that eventually they were all dead anyways.

The most interesting thing about them, however, was that someone had chained their ankles together with a heavy duty, 3 foot chain. As far as the kids had tested, it was unbreakable. At each end of the chain there was a solid ankle cuff, locked by a key they did not have. Caliborn couldn’t go anywhere without his sister, and vice versa.

Caliborn believed it to be a punishment of sorts, being strapped to his sister all the time, and Calliope originally saw it as a safety mechanism which protected them, but now she resented it. Both of the twins just wanted the chain removed, and they wanted to have the freedom to do as they pleased.

Equius and Dirk were very interested in the chain, but even they couldn’t figure out how to remove it.

“Great, just great,” Caliborn muttered, hopping down from his chair and almost pulling his sister down with him. “Come on, sister, there’s no point to us being here.”

“I disagree, brother dear. We have shelter, food, and you know that having more people can never hurt.” Calliope put her hand on Caliborn’s shoulder, looking at him as he looked away. “I know you don’t like it, but let them take care of us. It’s for the best.”

“It’s for the best,” Caliborn mimicked under his breath with a sneer. But with a resigned sigh, he sat back down, crossing his arms.

Here Meenah spoke up, leaning against the wall across the room. “You can stay with us as long as you want. We’ll make extra supply runs if we have to. I’m not lettin’ two little kids run off on their own when I could be here taking care of them,” she added quietly.

Calliope gave Meenah a small smile, nodding. “Do you have an extra room? We haven’t gotten much sleep the past few weeks.”

Meenah nodded. “Up the stairs, first room on your left.  Dinner’ll be in a couple hours, if you’re awake.”

Calliope hopped off of her chair, pulling her brother down with her and practically dragging him up the stairs.

Meenah looked at the rest of the group, silently asking their opinion of the children.

“I don’t trust the boy,” Dirk said, looking out the window at Gamzee. “He’ll act out.”

“How so?” Kanaya asked quietly. “They’re only children, Dirk.”

Dirk shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. In this world, everyone’s an adult, especially if they’ve lived on their own. His sister’s safe, I don’t have a problem with her. But him… I don’t trust him. I have a feeling he’d slit our throats in our sleep if he could get even a small benefit from it. Kid’s sadistic, I can tell. Give him the chance and he’ll go all Joffrey Baratheon on our asses.”

Meenah rolled her eyes. “”He’ll be fine, Dirk. His sister will keep him in line.”

Dirk shrugged, looking at her. “Just my opinion, is all. You’re the one who asked.”

Everyone else was in unanimous agreement over the children- they were going to stay.

~~~~~~

The second they were upstairs, Caliborn shut the door and rounded on his sister. Calliope flinched when he raised a hand, but instead of hitting her he slammed her against the wall. “Listen, you ugly bitch. I’m not staying here; I don’t trust these people. I know you do, I don’t care, and so help me god I will kill you if it means that I get to leave. Keep that in mind, bitch.”

Calliope swallowed hard, nodding slightly. Her brother released her, dragging her over to the full sized bed. He flopped down and she laid down next to him.

Before he fell asleep, Caliborn spoke up again. “Maybe I’ll just kill you anyways. You only slow me down, fat bitch. I’d probably be doing you a favor anyways.” He rolled over, facing away from her. “And since I’ll be doing you a favor, I’ll be expecting a thank you, sister dearest. Death is more than you deserve.”

Caliborn fell asleep the instant he shut his eyes, with a smirk on his face, but it took his sister much, much longer to drift off. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t deserve to die.

No one deserved to die.

And when she did finally drift off, she dreamt of her old home, but everything else was dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow okay! lots of new readers and kudos (hi!!)! so I guess that means that I need to update more often, huh? :)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the pesterlog. I tried to code it but everything I tried wouldn't work soooooo you guys get to imagine it whoops. I'm sorry!!! I know there's a way to do it but I am clueless sooooo

Calliope and Caliborn ended up skipping dinner. Or rather, they slept straight through it. But they didn’t really miss much, just a quiet meal with a silence that no one wanted to interrupt.  
Things were tense between the rest of household. There was some dissent over whether or not the children should stay, but in general it was accepted that they would. Concerns were voiced and swept aside, but there was still unease about them.  
Dirk was very firm in his beliefs about Caliborn. He just seemed… Wrong. Cruel, almost, especially for a twelve year old.  
Meenah made fun of him for being afraid of a little kid, so he shrugged it off, grumpily heading back to the room he had been sleeping in, and going to bed for the night.  
He had trouble sleeping, though, but his sleep was made easier when Roxy joined him an hour later, snuggling in beside him.  
~~~~~~  
Screaming.  
That’s all he could hear.  
Was absolutely terrified screaming.  
Dirk glanced out the window of his apartment to see a woman being mobbed by a group of people. He snorted. As much as he’d like to help, this was normal, in his part of town.  
Or at least, it was normal until he saw one of the people rip her arm off with his teeth.  
Dirk grabbed his glasses and a sword off of his bedside table, running downstairs to see if his brother was okay. After all, he hadn’t seen him in over eight months, and he had just come home the night before.  
Dirk stopped and breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw his brother peering through the curtains of the front room, having paused his video games for a moment to check out the screaming. Spotting Dirk, Dave motioned for him to keep quiet, and locked the front door. He flash stepped to the back door, locking it and drawing all the blinds in the downstairs. He then went back to front room, turning on the news and turning down the volume.  
There was only scattered news coverage so far. It seemed as if most of the stations had already been ransacked by whatever was out there. But those that were still functioning only lead to one conclusion: zombies.  
At this point, Dirk finally spoke up.  
“Shouldn’t we be getting out of the city or something? We can’t stay here, we’ll be killed.”  
Dave shook his head, nodding to the T.V. screen. “Aren’t you paying any attention? That’s all anybody’s trying to do. All the streets are clogged by traffic, it’s basically free eatin’s for the undead.” He did something he never did, taking off his glasses to stare Dirk directly in the eyes. “Bro, we have to wait, or we’re definitely dead. Go see if you can hook up with some of your friends or somethin’, see if they’re okay and if we can meet up with them somewhere a ways away from here. We’ll probably be safer in numbers.”  
Dirk opened up his mouth to ask how his bro knew all this, or could infer all this. But then he changed his mind, nodding and going back upstairs, sword still in hand. Dave put his glasses back on after a moment, turning back to the T.V.  
Once upstairs, Dirk opened up his pesterchum application, hoping to any deities there may be that his friends would be online.  
The only one he found online was Jake, and he hastily opened up a chat with him.

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering golgothasTerror [GT]  
TT: Hey.  
TT: English.  
TT: Are you okay?  
He sat back from his computer, lifting up his shades to rub his eyes. Jake wasn’t responding. He sighed, turning around in his computer chair to walk out; or at least he was until his computer pinged.  
GT: Of course i am strider.  
GT: Why wouldnt i be?  
GT: Is something wrong? Did something happen to the ladies? Or to you?  
TT: God, I hope nothing happened to the girls.  
TT: They aren’t responding.  
TT: So you haven’t seen anything… Weird?  
GT: No…. Should i have?  
TT: I would say so.  
GT: And what sort of strange things should i have seen?  
TT: Well, I’m not sure, to be honest.  
TT: The best term I can think of is kind of out there.  
TT: But then again, you live on an island in the middle of fuck all nowhere, so I guess weird might be your normal.  
TT: I’m pretty sure they’re zombies.  
GT: Like dead people?  
GT: Devilfucking dickens, man.  
GT: Are you sure?  
TT: Yeah.  
TT: I’m sure.  
TT: You haven’t seen anything?  
GT: Nope. Everything is normal as can be down here.  
TT: What about your grandma? She okay?  
GT: She left on some blasted trip a couple weeks ago.  
GT: She still hasnt come back.  
GT: You dont think she passed on do you dirk?  
GT: No no thats a preposterous notion isnt it.  
GT: Right?  
TT: I wouldn’t be so sure about that, bro.  
TT: I’m going to have my brother fly you out here.  
TT: I’d rather you not be stuck somewhere alone.  
TT: I just want to make sure my friends are safe.  
TT: Is that alright?  
GT: What about my dear sweet grandmother?  
TT: At this point…  
TT: Unfortunately I would assume the worst. She’s probably dead, or one of them.  
TT: I’m sorry, Jake.  
GT: Jesus christofer kringlefucker!  
GT: Well isn’t this just a spanking ripsnorter of a day.  
GT: Fuck it.  
GT: Beam me up dirk.  
TT: You know it doesn’t work like Star Trek, right?  
GT: I was trying to make light of this fucked situation.  
GT: Just come get me already. golgothasTerror [GT] ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

The chat client closed, and Dirk spun around in his chair and ran downstairs to his brother.  
“Hey, bro, I know you got connections and shit… Can you call in a favor or two for me?”  
Dave looked up from the TV at Dirk. “What sort of favors?”  
“We need to fly Jake out here.”  
“I’m not really sure I can-“  
“Fuck that. Of course you can. It’s the end of the fucking world, I’m pretty sure you can call in a couple of favors to fly him out here. He’ll die if he’s stuck on that island of his by himself.”  
“What about his grandma or whatever?”  
“I’m pretty sure she’s dead. She hasn’t been home in a while.”  
Dave rubbed his eyes. “Fuck, fine. See if you can’t get ahold of your other friends. Numbers are smart.”  
“No one else is online. Jake’s all I got, at this point.”  
“And me.”  
“What?”  
“You got me, bro.”  
“Fucking finally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I haven't updated in a while!! I'm going to try and update multiple times in the next month to make up for it. Thanks for reading!!


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